Ryan Garcia
With the wave of moves today to clear up who is or is not on their Opening Day roster, the Yankees have set their 26-man group for tomorrow’s matchup in San Francisco.
uis Gil was officially optioned and Osvaldo Bido has been claimed off of waivers by the Braves, as Brent Headrick, Jake Bird, and Cade Winquest won the final spots.
It was expected that the team would run with a nine-man bullpen after Aaron Boone broke the news that the team would roll with a four-man rotation earlier this week.
Now that the roster is set, the Yankees will have to navigate through another mini audition before Luis Gil returns to the rotation to take a roster spot.
READ: Yankees reveal Luis Gil decision ahead of Opening Day
Final Yankees’ Opening Day Roster is Now Set
When the Yankees head out to San Francisco, they’ll be using this 26-man group to try and claim a series victory for the fifth-straight Opening Day set.
The rotation will be a four-man group with Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Ryan Weathers in that exact order when they head to San Francisco and Seattle.
It allows them to carry nine relievers, and there are not too many surprises in that group relative to where the projected bullpen was at the start of camp.
Cade Winquest’s inclusion despite a poor Spring Training could be due to his 108 Stuff+ which indicates his pitch quality was better than his pitching results in exhibition games.
On the otherhand, it’s completely possible that the Yankees send him back to St. Louis if Luis Gil’s return coincides with a continued stretch of disappointment for Winquest.
For the position player group, the Yankees have had their roster set for quite some time now, with the internal debate being around whether they needed a backup shortstop or catcher.
They opted to carry J.C. Escarra as the true backup catcher for the roster and have opted to use Ryan McMahon as the emergency shortstop until Anthony Volpe returns.
If injuries pop up they can make that swap rather quickly and have infield depth with Paul DeJong and Max Scheumann in Triple-A.
Oswaldo Cabrera’s demotion was perhaps shocking to some, but given the nature of his ankle injury, the Yankees wanted to slowplay him.
New York will battle with San Francisco as the lone MLB game of the Wednesday slate before everyone else joins the action on Thursday and Friday.
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